Dame dame jan!
by dokiwuvnabi
Summary: What happens when the Prince of Tennis, Ryoma Echizen has met his match? A short and bubbly rival has arrived and she is related to one of the regulars! I wonder who that is?
1. Prologue

Hello! This is my very first time posting a story here on fanfiction so bear with me for I do not know the rules very well yet. This is a Ryoma Echizen x OC romance/comedy story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters as well as their tennis moves. I get my reference from wiki/Prince_of_Tennis_Wikia so if you think there is something wrong with the information here, let me know and I shall review it! Thank you and hope you enjoy!

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Dame dame jan! Prologue

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"Game set! 6 games to love! Winner of the tournament is Kenji Tezuka!" The crowd roars at the amazing game the two tennis players just had a while ago. The defeated player clenches his fists and grits his teeth in anger and humiliation as Kenji approaches the net towards him. Hesitantly, he too approaches the net. Kenji is wearing a white cap with red stripes, baggy long sleeved blue jacket, baggy long black jogging pants and black rubber shoes with pink stripes. He keeps his head low, the visor of the cap hiding his eyes from the other player as he reaches out his hand for a handshake. The other player glares at Kenji's outstretched hand and looks up at him. Not once did Kenji lift his head up during their match and not once has he spoken a word. Feeling a bit insulted, the other player reaches for Kenji's hand and grips it tightly. Then he roughly pulls Kenji a little closer so he can whisper into his ear, "Don't get so cocky! I felt sorry for you 'coz you're so short so I gave you a chance!", he says angrily with a smirk, probably thinking that he had done some damage onto Kenji. Then he let's go of Kenji's hand with the same smirk, expecting to see Kenji angry but instead sees him adjusting his cap, moving it a bit lower as if making sure his eyes were hidden. The other player glares at Kenji for his lack of reaction but smirks again thinking that maybe Kenji was scared of him so he decided to turn away to walk back to his bench. The crowd is still talking excitedly to one another, not paying attention to what's happening on the court since the awarding is coming next.

"Cocky? I'm more disappointed than cocky", a girl's voice was heard, loud enough for the referee and the other player to hear. This surprised both of them as the other player turned swiftly around to face Kenji while the referee just looked dumbstruck. The other player slowly points at Kenji as he flaps his mouth open and close, "Did – Did you just –" "Dame dame jan! Hasn't anyone taught you to accept your losses and show good sportsmanship?" Kenji cuts him off in a mocking tone while smirking as the other player just continued to stare with his mouth slightly open. Kenji's smirk turns into a frown as he says, "You can't improve if you don't even know that you need to. You need to fall before you can master running boy." He says as he lifts up the back portion of his cap while keep his eyes hidden with the visor. And when he did that, light brown hair dropped and swayed a bit before stopping right below his shoulders. A loud clack was heard when the other player dropped his racket. This got the attention of the crowd as they started getting noisier, wanting to know what's happening and what's taking the awarding so long to start. The referee looked uncertain as he approached Kenji. Kenji held his visor down to hide his eyes as the referee seemed to want to take a peek. "Kenji Tezuka, are you a girl?" The referee asks Kenji, still a bit unsure and feels stupid for asking such a question. But Kenji just smirks, "What do you think?" he asks in a clearly feminine tone. The referee sighs in disappointment but smiles at Kenji saying, "You got guts kid. But you do know you're disqualified, right?" Kenji just shrugs his – err, I mean HER shoulders indifferently, "Meh, go ahead, I'm used to it." Then she turns around and walks towards her bench as the referee looked confused as to what she meant by being used to it, but he figured he had more important things to do as he stepped aside and started relaying a message to the walkie-talkie he had. Finally seeing his chance, the other player ran towards Kenji, stopping right behind her as Kenji zipped up her tennis bag and lifted it up her left shoulder. The other player seemed a bit hesitant but when Kenji started to walk towards the gate, he shouted out, "Hey! Wait! What's –"

"Attention! There has been a change in the decision!" He gets cut off by an announcement being made through the speakers near the bleachers. He and the rest of the people looked up and waited for the sudden message. "It is unfortunate that we announce that Kenji Tezuka is disqualified for valid reasons and that the winner of the tournament is the 1st runner up, thank you and congratulations!" The crowd was wild as they started screaming out their questions, wanting to know why such a player was disqualified. Some of the crowd were looking for Kenji. Hearing this, the other player looked around and saw that indeed, Kenji was long gone. She must have walked out when the announcement was being made. Some people were looking at him with doubt and anger, thinking that he had something to do with it. The other player did not like this at all and decided to run towards the referee who was walking towards the gate while talking on his walkie-talkie. He forcefully grabbed the referee's right shoulder and made him turn towards him as he angrily said, "Why did you have to do that! I clearly lost and I do not want to receive a trophy that does not belong to me! My reputation would be tainted!" He glared at the referee but it had no effect on him; The referee just sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with a tired expression. "Look kid, rules are rules. And he –" the referee stops himself and continues, "I mean SHE gave the go signal. She didn't seem to be bothered by it." "But what about me, my reputation?" the other player reasoned out but the referee just shakes his head with a frown, "Sorry kid, this tournament has to have a winner so either you accept it or you forfeit as well, your choice." The referee leaves him looking even more tired than before. The other player clenches his fists then suddenly remembered what Kenji told him, "I need to fall first huh?" He says to himself with a smile and determined eyes as he ran towards the confused and rioting crowd. "Excuse me! Everyone! Please listen to me!" He announced, getting everyone's attention and even the referee, making him run towards the player to stop him, but he was too slow. "The reason why Kenji Tezuka was disqualified is because she is a girl! That's right! A girl joined this all-boys tennis tournament and beat every one of us! And I accept my loss because she is indeed a great tennis player. So I will accept the trophy in behalf of her and promise to give it to her the next time we meet." The crowd were getting louder, some of them rooting for the other player's idea while most of them started complaining and shouting at the referee, things like: "That's sexist!" "You didn't have to report it you asshole!" "She deserves the trophy!" while throwing cans and water bottles at him as he tried to dodge them but to no avail.

Moments later, the awarding took place. And even if most people were still unsatisfied with the result, they let it be because the other player was sincere enough to accept his defeat. He receives the trophy gratefully then looks up at the clear blue sky while saying to himself, "I'll find you, whoever you are. We will meet up one day in another tournament and I'll ask you for a rematch. I'll be stronger by then, just you wait!" he tightens his grip on the trophy with a determined smile on his face.

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"Achoo!" A petite girl with shoulder-length light brown hair sneezes then sniffles. "Looks like somebody is talking about you, eh little miss?" the driver teases as he chuckles while taking a peek at his passenger through the rearview mirror. She sniffles a bit and rubs her nose "Yeah, and I might just know who..." she says with a frown. The driver laughs a bit then decides to ask, "So you play tennis eh? Were you playing in that tournament I picked you up in?" He asks curiously, remembering the big tennis bag he helped keep in the trunk of his taxi. The traffic light turns red as he slowly steps on the brake. The girl smiles, as if remembering something and says, "Nah, it was an all-boys competition. I just watched and hoped I could get someone to play with me a bit." The light turns to green as the driver slowly pushes on the gas and continues to drive on. "Oh? Well were you able to play?" he asks as he glances at her through the rearview mirror and sees her grinning widely, making him chuckle and say, "I guess you did." The rest of the ride was spent in comfortable silence until the taxi driver pulled over in front of a large train station. He gets out of the taxi, followed by the girl and he helps her get her tennis bag out of the trunk. "Thanks mister! Here!" she says as she hands him money then runs off to the station while waving at him and shouting, "Keep the change! Have a nice day!" She swears she was able to hear him chuckle before entering a crowded area of the train station.

She looks around the station for the sign of her track and train. "JR Express track D...JR Express track D..." she repeats to herself while looking at various signs. She had to ask various guards and employees of the station until she finally got to the right track. "Good thing I decided to come here early..." she tells herself half-proud but half-ashamed of herself as well; probably because of her lack of sense in direction. "Attention, attention, JR Express number 3014 will be arriving shortly, please stay behind the automated fences for safety purposes. I repeat, JR Express number 3014 will be arriving shortly, please stay behind the automated fences for safety purposes, thank you." Upon hearing this announcement, she looks at her ticket and sees that it was her bullet train so she hurries to a random bento shop to buy a bento box for her to eat in the train. Moments later, the bullet train arrives and several people get off it with their luggages and such while she and the other passengers wait in line for all of them to get off before going in. When no one was coming out anymore, they went in and she immediately asked the attendant by the door where her seat was. Good thing she was assisted by the attendant to her seat, or else she would have asked her again. No one seemed to be sitting beside her so she felt lucky to have the space to herself as she set her bento box on the pull down table in front of her. The driver announced that they will be departing so all the doors started to close slowly as the attendants sat in their perspective seats. As the train started to move, she looks out the window with a smile on her face saying, "Goodbye Kyoto, I learned a lot from your players and I hope they learned a bit from me as well. It was short but fun and I hope to come back someday..." she says in a gentle tone as she opens her bento box and start eating while enjoying the view from her window.

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Hey! Thanks for your reading! Review please so I can know what you think! :D


	2. Dame dame jan! Chapter one

Hey guys! Wow, I can't believe people are already following this story. It hasn't been a day yet since the prologue was up so I was really surprised. Thank you for reading, following, and making this story one of your favorites! I'm trying my best to upload as fast as I can with work and Masters so bear with me! And oh yeah, I forgot to mention, "Dame dame jan" means "Not good at all", I forgot to place that in the prologue.. ehe. Here is chapter one! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters as well as their tennis moves. I get my reference from wiki/Prince_of_Tennis_Wikia so if you think there is something wrong with the information here, let me know and I shall review it! Thank you and hope you enjoy!

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Dame dame jan! Chapter One

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Kunimitsu Tezuka stood tall and stern in the tennis court, watching his team train with one another. Sadaharu Inui stood at his right, writing down the data he gets by watching the practice match. Takeshi Momoshiro and Kaoru Kaido were teamed up as doubles partners while they played against Ryoma Echizen and Takashi Kawamura in a doubles practice match. "It seems that Echizen has a harder time playing with Taka-san in doubles than with Momo" Inui states while writing down his new found discovery, "It could be because of Taka-san's intensity or –" "It could be because they both just want to hit the ball" Shuichiro Oishi cuts in with a smile as he walks into the court and stands beside Tezuka's left side. Inui nods in agreement as he continues to watch Ryoma and Taka having a silent battle between them as to who gets to hit the ball first. "In burning mode, Taka-san is a more aggressive player compared to Momo and since Echizen doesn't like sharing, both of them can't really make a compromise" Shusuke Fuji says from behind the three as he enters the tennis court with his racket on hand and stops to stand beside Inui who looks at him an asks, "How many swings were you able to do in 5 minutes?" Fuji seems to widen his smile a bit as he places a finger on his chin, pretending to think about it and says, "Hmm, I guess around 500?" Inui nods and writes it down on his notebook while Oishi looked at Fuji with his mouth agape, "500 swings?! In 5 minutes?!" he asks him in total shock and a bit of fear. Fuji just continues to smile, apparently liking Oishi's reaction. "I'm done with my laps Inui!" Eiji Kikumaru shouts out as he enters from the other side of the court, waving and jogging to the gathered group with sweat rolling down the side of his face. Inui nods at him and writes something down on his notebook for a while. Eiji stops in front of Inui as Oishi throws him his towel, "Thanks Oishi!" he says energetically and wipes his face with it. "Increasing your amount of laps by 5 every week seems to be helping you with your stamina." Inui says as he looks up from his notebook to Eiji with a smile. "Here you go Eiji." Oishi says as he hands him his water bottle. "Thanks Oishi!" Eiji says then glances back to Inui a bit confused, "How can you tell Inui?" he asks him then drinks some water from his bottle. "You used to pant a lot and needed a 5 minute break when you ran for more than 30 laps. Now you look like you still have energy left even after running 40 laps." Inui explains to him, making Eiji happy as well as Oishi, "That's great Eiji!" Oishi praises him with a clap on Eiji's shoulder. Eiji nods excitedly, "I can't wait to test it out on the court!" Inui nods "And as a reward," he starts to say as he offers Eiji a cup of greenish blue liquid, "you can try out my new drink. I call it the Inui AQUABLUE juice." Eiji and Oishi flinch and back away a bit from the offered drink with fear and disgust evident in their faces. "N-No thanks Inui! I'll stick with water!" Eiji says, hiding behind Oishi and whispering to him, "I don't want to die Oishi." Oishi nods in agreement as he convinces Inui to save the juice for some other time. "Too bad" Inui says a bit disappointed but then looks at Momo and Kaidou cooperating with each other, making him smile again, "Maybe I can give it to Momo and Kaidou as a reward for not fighting with each other." He says as his glasses give off an evil glint. Oishi and Eiji silently pray for their juniors' safety. Fuji on the other hand, looked interested and asked Inui if he could try the drink. Inui gladly gives Fuji the cup while Oishi and Eiji just watched in disgust as he drank everything without flinching. "Hey! This is really good! You guys should try this!" Fuji says enthusiastically while both Oishi and Eiji decline the offer, "Fuji, you should really get your tongue checked" Eiji tells him but Fuji just looks at him confused.

"Tezuka, you've been glancing at your watch 90% of the time since you've stepped foot on this court. Are you expecting something?" Inui asks Tezuka, making the other three look at him curiously. Tezuka glances at them for a bit with the same strict expression then he looks down at his watch for a bit. "90.63%" Inui says then looks as if he just remembered something as he browsed through his notebook. "Is everything alright Tezuka?" Oishi, Tezuka's best friend, asks him sincerely. He hadn't seen Tezuka this…this…anxious before. Eiji looks down at his watch "It is 5:16 Captain! Do you need to be somewhere else?" he asks Tezuka innocently while blinking his big eyes at him. "Ah!" Fuji exclaims suddenly remembering something important as he smiles, "Wasn't she arriving today?" he asks everyone there in general. "She?" both Eiji and Oishi ask at the same time, obviously confused. Tezuka doesn't say anything but glances at his watch again. "Actually," Inui starts to say, getting the attention of the group, "she arrived a while ago at approximately 5:05, which means she is currently walking home from the local train station." Inui says as he closes his notebook. "Unless," Fuji starts to say, "she got lost again and is still wandering around the local train station." This certainly got Tezuka's attention for his eyes widened a little bit but just for a little while. Though Fuji noticed this and was smiling even wider. "Fuji" Tezuka calls out sternly. "Yes Tezuka?" Fuji asks innocently with that wide smile on his face. "10 laps" Tezuka commands then looks at Fuji, "NOW" he finishes his sentence then looks down at his watch. Fuji tries to hold in his laughter as he jogs out of the tennis court to start his laps. Eiji still looks puzzled but Oishi looks like he is remembering something. Inui decided to help by giving them a clue, "She needs to drink more milk" he says but Eiji looks even more puzzled now. Oishi was able to remember with that hint as he looks at Tezuka anxiously glancing at his watch. "No wonder you look so excited, she is coming back from her so called adventure, right?" Oishi asks Tezuka who nods at him in response. "Didn't you want to pick her up?" Oishi asks in concern, knowing full well how bad that girl's sense of direction is. Before Tezuka could answer, Eiji cuts in between them with his cheeks puffed. "It's not fair! I'm the only one left out! Who is she? Tell me!" he complains as he clings to Oishi's arm and begs him. "Eiji! I told you last week that she was coming back to Tokyo today!" Oishi reminds Eiji, making him think long and hard but to no avail. "I don't know Oishi! Give me another clue!" Eiji begs with puppy dog eyes. Oishi sighs but then thinks of a clue for a while until he looked like a light bulb just popped up over his head. "You thought you had a crush on her for a week! Remember now?" Oishi says but then suddenly feels a cold and scary aura coming from Tezuka so he decided to back away a bit while Eiji started to think. "Aah! I remember! Her!" Eiji announces triumphantly but then feels the cold and scary aura coming from behind him so he flinches. "Eiji" Tezuka calls out with a commanding voice, making Eiji slowly turn towards him in fear. Tezuka's eyes were hidden as his glasses seemed to be gleaming. You can hear Inui in the background murmuring something about having the same reaction while Oishi silently backed away while praying for his partner's safety. "Yes Captain?" Eiji manages to respond meekly. "50 laps" Tezuka commands, making Eiji run out of the tennis court yelling, "Oishi you idiot!" Oishi feels sorry for Eiji and told himself that he'll buy him ice cream after practice as he approaches the now calm Tezuka. "You're not going to pick her up?" Oishi starts back the conversation that was cut off a while ago, "She has been gone the entire summer vacation. Does she still remember how to get home?" he asks with a concerned tone but then smiles when he notices a change in Tezuka's usual stern expression. He won't admit it but Oishi knows full well that Tezuka is very excited to see her again after more than two months. He himself is excited to see her as well. Tezuka looks at Oishi then glances at his watch again, seeing that it was already 5:30. He closes his eyes, thinking – or rather recalling something. Then he opens them and looks at Oishi with gentleness in his eyes as he tells him, "She won't let her guard down." he says then looks towards the practice match and sees that they are done already. "That's what she told me on the phone this morning. And she also told me that I should be focusing on shaping up the team for the upcoming tournament." he says with a soft voice that had a bit of fondness in it, as Oishi detected. "Alright! Assemble!" Tezuka announces as he approaches the four regulars that were cooling off, with Momo and Kaidou fighting again, Ryoma drinking water, and Taka (without his racket) rotating his shoulders. Oishi couldn't help but laugh at what he heard from Tezuka and watched as he broke up the fight between Momo and Kaidou. Then suddenly recalling something, he looks at Inui who was browsing through his notebook. "Hey Inui?" Oishi calls out, getting Inui's attention, "Hm?" "Do you think she followed your training menu and got taller?" he asks Inui who decided to look for the menu he made for her before she left on her adventure. "Well if she followed my menu correctly, she should be at least as tall as – hm?" Inui cuts himself off as he stops at a page in his notebook that had a pink folded piece of paper inserted in it, "Odd, I don't remember putting this in here..." he says as he unfolds the paper with Oishi right at his shoulder, curious as to what it is. "..." both of them had absolutely nothing to say as they stared at what was on the paper; Though Oishi looked like he was about to laugh while Inui looked a bit depressed. On the pink paper was a drawing of a girl in chibi form sticking out her tongue with the words, "You can't make me drink milk!" right below it. Oishi couldn't help it anymore, he started to laugh while Inui started to mumble incoherent words.

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"Achoo!" a girl sneezes and stops walking. She rubs her nose and blinks her dark brown eyes rapidly to rid the tears that formed because of her sneeze. "I must be getting a cold or something, that's the nth time I've sneezed today!" she says then grumbles to herself as she studies her surroundings. She looks down at the piece of paper she's been holding then looks around her surroundings again. She would repeat this process until she finally throws the paper in the air with her eyes starting to tear up as she softly admits to herself, "I'm lost..." she pouts then her tears start to stream down like waterfalls as she cries out, "I let my guard down!" she starts to cry like a baby while standing on the sidewalk. Unknowingly to her though, she had been standing right by the wall that covers her house. A big arrow comes from nowhere and points at the medium sized beige colored house that was surrounded by 4 meter high walls. The front of the house has a brown gate and on the right side of that gate displays a wooden name placard that says, 'Tezuka'. Then a smaller red arrow appears out of nowhere and points to the crying girl who was in fact just standing right behind her house; All she had to do was turn left twice.

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Hey! Thanks for reading! For those who didn't read my memo above, "Dame dame jan" means "Not good at all". Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Will be posting the next one soon! :3


	3. Dame dame jan! Chapter two

Sorry this took so long! Didn't think it was 7 pages worth... XD Well here it is! Chapter two! There are some Japanese words I inserted here but didn't bother to translate some because they are commonly used. But if you want to know what they mean, just send me a private message or just ask in the reviews! Oh, and just to give you a clear picture of what Meisha looks like, look at the cover image of this story, that's her in chibi form. Hope you enjoy! :3

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters as well as their tennis moves. I get my reference from wiki/Prince_of_Tennis_Wikia so if you think there is something wrong with the information here, let me know and I shall review it! Thank you and hope you enjoy!

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Dame dame jan! Chapter two

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It is early in the morning when Kunimitsu Tezuka is seen standing in front of a bedroom door with a wooden placard that says, 'Meisha'. He looks down at the knob and seems to be contemplating on whether to go in or knock. He releases a breath and shakes his head, probably thinking of how stupid he looks right now. He lifts up his fist about to knock when the door suddenly flies open, momentarily surprising him; MOMENTARILY surprising him. He drops his arm as a soft but still stern expression graces his feature as he lays his eyes on the person in front of him. A petite girl with messy shoulder-length light brown hair and widened dark brown eyes holding a big black tennis bag on her left shoulder, while the ribbon on her uniform stayed crooked. "Good, you're awake. I was going to leave you if you weren't ready yet." Tezuka says in his usual manner but his eyes showed that he was teasing; And Meisha knows that so she hugs him lovingly saying, "I missed you!" Tezuka on the other hand just nods but pats her head lovingly while looking down at her with gentle eyes and a slight smile that probably only she can see. She does know him very well, even more than Oishi. "Come on! I'm hungry!" she says enthusiastically then runs towards the stairs to go down. Tezuka just sighs and slowly follows behind her. Tezuka knows her very well too, after all, she is – "Come on niichan! Hurry up!" she yells out while waiting for Tezuka to catch up to her by the stairs. After all, she IS his younger sister.

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(Authors note: They are both Tezuka, I know, but I don't think I can get used to referring to him as Kunimitsu... But don't worry； there won't be any mix ups coz Meisha will be referred to as Meisha. ;3 On with the story!)

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"Tezuka!" Inui calls out as he jogs up beside Tezuka who was already on his 2nd lap. Tezuka is always the first to arrive for morning practice since he comes to school 10 minutes earlier than the actual time; He warms up while waiting for his team to arrive. Inui usually would arrive next but sometimes it's either Fuji or Oishi. Tezuka glances at Inui and nods in greeting as he focuses on his jogging again while Inui jogs beside him. "I presume that Meisha came with you and is now filling up some forms in the teacher's lounge." Inui states as Tezuka nods while he jogs with ease. "Hey guys!" Fuji greets from behind them as he jogs to catch up to them and stays on Tezuka's other side. "You're 2.35 seconds later than usual" Inui points out while Tezuka just nods at Fuji in greeting as they jogged in pace with each other. "Hmm… Maybe because I had an extra apple this morning" Fuji ponders on it while Inui just nods in understanding. "So did Meisha-chan get home alright?" Fuji asks curiously with a smile as Inui turns his head to look at Tezuka, wanting to know the answer as well. Tezuka looks at both of them but stays silent as he increases his pace a little, seemingly wanting to avoid the topic. Inui and Fuji notice this so they increase their pace as well to match his. Fuji's smile became wider, "I assume that's a no" he says as he tries his best not to ask further. "Good morning!" Oishi greets them from behind as he catches up to them and jogs with them in pace beside Inui. "Good morning Oishi" Fuji greets happily, "Good morning" Inui greets with a smile while Tezuka just nods at him. "Did Meisha get home alright yesterday?" He asks a bit concerned causing Tezuka to sigh a bit, making Fuji laugh. Oishi looks at them with a confused expression "Something I missed?" he asks Inui who nods and says, "Fuji asked the same question a while ago and I assume Tezuka refused to answer it because he suddenly increased his pace to jog ahead of us." Oishi looks at Tezuka in concern "So where did you find her this time? I hope she didn't stray too far…" The other two look at Tezuka as well, anticipating his answer. It could be because Oishi is his best friend or it could be because he really sounded worried but Tezuka glanced at the three for a bit then sighs in defeat. "I found her crying behind our house when I got home" he says in a stern voice as he runs ahead of them. This makes the other three stop and look at each other; Fuji and Oishi burst out laughing while Inui starts to write it down on his notebook saying, "That's an improvement…" he says while nodding his head in approval. "Good morning!" an enthusiastic but timid voice calls out in greeting behind them. The three turn behind them and see Taka waving at them with Kaidou walking behind him. "Fsshuu, good morning senpaitachi" he greets them with his head bowed.

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(Author's note: senpaitachi is the plural form of senpai. And senpai is a form of respect; you call people who are older than you (who are not related to you of course) senpai. You usually hear this with the person's name (Ex: Fuji-senpai) but you can use it without attaching the name as well (Ex: Senpai).)

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The three greet them back and hears another energetic voice coming towards them. "Hoi hoi! Morning people!" Eiji jogs towards them waving as he is greeted back with equal energy, well, except for Kaidou who just plainly says, "Good morning senpai" then walks inside the tennis court with his racket in hand as Taka follows behind him in order to help Kaidou with his practice. "Nya? I thought today's morning practice isn't going to involve our rackets?" Eiji questions Inui as he eyes on Kaidou's racket. "Kaidou needs to practice with his racket as much as possible in order to master the boomerang snake" Inui explains it to him as Eiji nods in understanding. Fuji decides to have some fun as his smile widens at Eiji "Eiji, we know something you don't know" he says teasingly, making Oishi laugh and Eiji looking at them confused. "Well technically, there are plenty of things we know that he doesn't while at the same time, there are plenty of things that he knows while we don't" Inui states, making Eiji even more confused while Oishi just shakes his head in response to Inui's seriousness. Eiji looks from Fuji to Inui to Oishi then back to Inui to Fuji; Then as if something in his mind clicked, his expression changed to shock as he points an accusing finger at Oishi, "Oishi! You promised not to tell anybody!" he accuses Oishi out loud, leaving Fuji and Inui looking at each other confused but curious. "What are you talking about Eiji?" Oishi questions him, slightly confused as well as if he somewhat knew what Eiji is talking about. "Good morning senpaitachi! What's going on?" Momo greets energetically as Ryoma just bows his head to them in greeting. Before anyone can greet them back, Eiji goes to Momo with an angry look "Momo listen! Oishi promised me yesterday that he wouldn't tell anyone that I had been scared of the dark until last year!" Eiji complains to Momo who just looks at his senpai confused while Oishi did a facepalm. "Senpai, you were scared of the dark when you were in 2nd year?" Ryoma mocks with a smirk on his face as Momo tries to hold in his laughter while Inui has started to add that detail in Eiji's data. As if he just realized it, Eiji blushes then runs inside the court screaming, "Oishi you idiot!" While Oishi runs after him saying, "You blurted it out! Not me!" Momo couldn't take it anymore and just laughs while Ryoma sighs, pretending to be disappointed saying, "Mada mada dane" Fuji smiles and thinks of ways to use Eiji's secret for blackmailing purposes. "Regulars, assemble!" Tezuka calls out from the tennis court, "Momoshiro! Echizen! 10 laps!" he commands the moment he sees the two of them who look surprised but then started to run while asking each other how their captain knew they were late even if he wasn't there to see it. "Today, we will be focusing on endurance and flexibility, I will be forming you all into pairs as you perform exercises with each other" Inui says then continues with, "These exercises will help your muscles to be both strong and flexible when needed." He finishes explaining as he calls out the pairings.

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Meisha enters an empty classroom then walks towards the fourth row (there are 5) and sits at the seat on the second column (if facing the seats, order of the columns is from left to right starting with 1 and ending with 5; there are 5 columns as well). She keeps her notebooks and some of the books she received from the admissions office inside her desk. She looks up at the clock on top of the blackboard and sighs, "It's still so early…" she complains then yawns as she folds her arms on top of the desk then nestles her head in them to take a nap.

* * *

"Alright, morning practice is over, dismissed!" Tezuka shouts out and the regulars lined up bow and say thank you. Then they stretch their tired muscles while walking towards the boys' locker room to change back to their uniforms before the school bell rings. "Hey Echizen, did you notice that morning practice wasn't as tough as it usually is?" Momo asks Ryoma as they lag behind the others. Ryoma just looks up at his senior's face and raises both his shoulder, showing that he doesn't really care about the matter. Momo just sighs at the lack of reaction he got from his best friend, "If I didn't know any better, I would think you and Captain were both related, seeing how less you guys talk" he says with a smirk, trying to rile up the freshman but Ryoma smirks back at him and says, "Mada mada dane Momo-senpai" as he follows the others into the locker room. "You little brat!" Momo shouts out and follows him in. Tezuka was the first to finish; he picks up his tennis bag and hmm? He picks up another black tennis bag and walks out of the room leaving most of the regulars wondering whose tennis bag was he carrying. "Hey Oishi, why was Captain bringing two tennis bags?" Eiji asks confused as Oishi starts to think but Inui cuts in to explain, "The other bag is for practice later" he says as he lifts up his tennis bag to his shoulder. "What are we doing later Inui?" Taka asks curiously as everyone awaits for the response. Inui smiles that eerie smile of his as his glasses seem to glint in an evil fashion, "It's a surprise" he says then leaves the room. Inui's last statement leaves a suddenly cold atmosphere as everyone except Fuji recalls the horrible taste of Inui's juices. "I can't wait for practice later" Fuji says with a wide smile as he leaves the room as well. "I don't like Inui-senpai's surprises… Don't like them at all…" Momo says, obviously wishing that afternoon practice would suddenly be cancelled. "Stop complaining you idiot" Kaidou says as he lifts up his tennis bag to leave but then gets grabbed by the collar by Momo "What did you say Viper?!" he shouts out angrily at him as Kaidou grabs his collar as well "I said you are an idiot! You should clean your ears you pea brain!" Kaidou retorts back angrily then they both growl angrily at each other. "Alright, that's enough you two! To think you guys were cooperating very well as doubles partners." Oishi breaks them up and sighs in disappointment as the two juniors bow in apology. "Mada mada dane" Ryoma smirks then gets glared at by the two juniors. "They were synced there!" Eiji comments with a laugh, making the two juniors look at each other then abruptly facing the opposite direction, not wanting to see the other. "Come on Eiji, Oishi, we'll be late" Taka says as he looks at the clock in the locker room. "See you guys at practice later!" Oishi calls out then follows the two out of the room with Kaidou following as well. "That viper, he makes me so mad!" Momo says, still angry about the matter while Ryoma walks towards the door to go out saying, "Later" but then gets pulled back by the back of his collar by Momo who says, "You're not going anywhere! Wait for me, I'll be quick!" Ryoma sighs and softly says, "Baka" "I heard that!" Momo shouts out as he quickly changes into his uniform. Then the bell rings, signaling to them that they are late for classes…again.

* * *

The class has been murmuring for the past hour; talking about the new girl sleeping on the desk beside their classmate Echizen Ryoma's desk. "She's the one who has been absent for 2 weeks…" a girl whispers to her friend; "I heard she was absent because she got into trouble before school started" a boy says as he discreetly points at the sleeping girl; "No way! I heard she was absent because she didn't want to come to school yet and her family pulled some strings" his friend answers back as he shifts his eyes to the sleeping girl. "Maybe we should wake her up and introduce ourselves" a shy girl asks her friend who shakes her head in disagreement, "Haven't you heard the rumors? I don't want to associate myself with delinquents" her friend says back in a snobby manner. The door suddenly opens and a young woman enters the classroom saying, "Okay class, settle down! Mr. Tirada is sick today so I'll be your substitute teacher!" she says energetically as the students go back to their desks quietly. "Now I –" she gets cut off by the door opening and in comes Ryoma who slightly bows his head in greeting. The teacher smiles at him and nods her head as if giving him permission to come in and sit down. Ryoma silently walks to his desk, which is on the fourth row third column, while the teacher introduces herself. When he gets to his seat, he notices someone with shoulder length light brown hair occupying the seat that was empty for more than 2 weeks. She seemed to be sleeping. Ryoma sits down on his chair and glances at his new seatmate for a while but then looks away feeling uninterested as he pays close attention to the new teacher.

"Now I'm going to take your attendance, say 'present!' when your name is called" she – Miss Shirai -announces as she calls out the students' names one by one. She wasn't able to feel it but the students were anticipating for her to call out the new girl's name. Ryoma was never really interested in gossip so he didn't really care who she was. When it seemed that everyone has been called, Miss Shirai pauses at the last name on the list: Tezuka, Meisha. Beside this name was a post it that read: "She was absent for the first two weeks of class, don't forget to introduce her." Apparently, the boy in front of Meisha was a bit taller than average so his body covered her sleeping form, which resulted to Miss Shirai being confused as she looks around the classroom and sees no sign of this girl she hadn't called out yet. "Well, looks like somebody is going to have to spend her time outside the classroom with a bucket full of water for being late. And to think she was absent for 2 weeks, she should've at least come in to school early." Miss Shirai complains a bit disappointed as she starts to write their lesson (that Mr. Tirada planned) on the blackboard. The students couldn't help but look towards the sleeping girl worriedly as they softly tried to force each other to either wake the girl up or tell the teacher; at which nobody wanted to do because they were scared that either the teacher or their rumored delinquent classmate would get mad. Satoshi Horio, who was seated at the second row fourth column, turned his body to look at Ryoma who just looked outside the widow feeling bored. "Oi, Echizen!" Horio whispers out as softly as he can; enough for Ryoma to hear and the teacher not to hear it. Ryoma raises a brow at him, not knowing why he was called by Horio. "Wake her up!" Horio whispers out while giving off gestures such as pointing to the sleeping girl. Ryoma looks at Horio annoyed then he looks at the sleeping girl beside him, feeling even more annoyed. He reaches for her hair slowly at first, not wanting to be caught by the teacher as some of his classmates watched him. Then he pulled a handful of hair as hard as he could. "OUCH!" the sleeping girl yells out as she clutches her head in pain. Ryoma was quick coz he drew back his hand before either the teacher or the girl saw it. "What is going on!" Miss Shirai barks out as she looks for the source of the sound and sees a girl clutching her head down as she slowly rubbed the spot that hurt. Miss Shirai stared at the girl for a while before something seemed to click in her head as her expression changed from angry to surprised then embarrassed. "Oh! You must be Meisha-chan! I didn't see you there…" she says with an apologetic tone in her voice. Having her name called, she lifts up her face to look at the teacher. The corners of her dark brown eyes had tears gathered in them but not enough for them to fall. She stared at the teacher with widened eyes as if confused. Then she looks around to see that everyone was looking at her. Her eyes land on her seatmate's hazel eyes which were looking at her with boredom. They stared at each other for a while, no one thinking of looking away until they heard Miss Shirai clearing her throat so they both look towards her. Something seemed to click in Meisha's mind as she snaps out of her dazed look and rubs her eyes to get rid of the gathered tears. "Meisha-chan, could you stand up here in front to introduce yourself?" Miss Shirai asks her nicely, feeling guilty about what she said earlier regarding Meisha. Meisha smiles brightly, stands up, and energetically goes up front. Now that she was standing in front, they could see that she is a petite girl; possibly the shortest in class. Her eyes sparkled in excitement as her smile brightens up the whole classroom. "So cute!" some of the girls and boys, including Horio say out loud as Ryoma looks outside through the windows with an annoyed expression. "I'm Meisha! I went on an adventure for the whole summer break! I was absent for 2 weeks because… because…" Meisha suddenly gets shy as her cheeks start to turn pink. "What is it sweetie? It's okay, don't be shy" Miss Shirai encourages her in a motherly manner. Meisha nods timidly as she inhales in a breath with her eyes closed as most of the students anticipated the truth. "Because I forgot that school had already started…" Meisha softly says but everyone heard it as the whole classroom suddenly becomes silent, as if processing what she had said. Then they all started to laugh, not at Meisha but at themselves for believing the rumors. Meisha's face becomes pink as she feels embarrassed as Miss Shirai giggles at her. At some point, Meisha stopped feeling embarrassed and started to laugh at her own mistake. "Alright, settle down now class. Does anyone have questions for Meisha-chan?" Miss Shirai asks. A girl raises her hand and Miss Shirai points at her. "What were you doing for the whole summer break?" she asks. Meisha grins "I was travelling all over Japan and meeting new people!" she says energetically as some of her classmates expressed how cool that was. Ryoma on the other hand just kept getting more and more annoyed, maybe because his new seatmate is talkative? He wasn't really sure but he left it at that. A boy raises his hand and Miss Shirai points at him. "What are your hobbies?" he asks her as Meisha giggles "Oh that's an easy one!" she says then smiles brightly, "I LOVE playing tennis!" she announces proudly. This got Ryoma's attention as he looks towards her with a smirk on his lips. Horio seemed pretty excited as well, probably wanting to give her his 'two years of tennis experience' speech. The class was rowdy until Miss Shirai told them to settle down and that she will allow only one more question. Someone's hand goes up and his classmates were surprised to see whose it was. "Yes Echizen-kun?" she asks Ryoma as dark brown eyes meet hazel ones once again. "Are you any good?" he asks with a smirk. Meisha's eyes seem to light up even more as she couldn't help but smirk back at him, "Dame dame jan, you shouldn't challenge people without knowing who you're up against first" she says with a smooth manner without making it sound arrogant. "Hmm" Ryoma hums in interest and understanding as he smirks even more. "So since you don't know me, you're scared you might lose?" he says arrogantly "Mada mada dane" he finishes as Meisha frowns and is about to retort but Miss Shirai stopped their arguing and told Meisha to get back to her seat. While walking towards her seat, she glares at Ryoma continuously as he just stares at her with an amused smirk. Then when Miss Shirai wasn't looking, Meisha sticks her tongue out at him as Ryoma rolls his eyes and as Meisha sits down, he mumbles, "Child" at which she responds with a mumble of her own, "Arrogant" "Ugly" he mumbles back; "Stupid" she mumbles back. "Forgetful" "Jerk" "Chicken" "Pig" "Short" "Pipsqueak" "Look who's talking" "Oh please, I'm a girl, it's cute" "Yeah right" "Yes I am right" they banter like this continuously until Miss Shirai catches them and decides that Ryoma should help Meisha catch up on the two weeks she missed. This decision did not make any of the two happy as most of the classmates were silently laughing at them for fighting on their first meeting while others, including Horio, were surprised that Ryoma behaved that way.

* * *

The two stayed silent for the whole morning then the lunch bell started to ring, causing most students to silently sigh in relief. When the teacher left, the students stood up to go to their usual spots when eating lunch. Horio stands up to go towards Ryoma's seat with his lunch box in hand as Ryoma starts to open his lunch box. Some girls and boys flock towards Meisha's seat as they introduce themselves to the new girl. This annoyed Ryoma; maybe because they were being noisy near his desk? He wasn't sure but he left it at that. Meisha on the other hand was happily talking to her new classmates as she started to open her lunch box. Both of them open their lunch boxes at the same time and frown at their lunch. "Wow Meisha-chan, I did not expect your lunch to be like that" a boy says laughing. "Hey Echizen, your lunch looks good!" Horio says while eyeing Ryoma's lunch. "I hate fish/western food" both say at the same time with Meisha saying she hates fish and Ryoma saying he hates western food. They look at each other as their classmates either anticipate a fight or they are just confused why they suddenly looked towards each other. "What kind of fish?" Ryoma asks Meisha. "Fried saury; What kind of western food?" she asks back. "Burger steak" he replies then they stare at each other for a while, as if communicating with their eyes alone. "Truce?" she suggests, at which Ryoma immediately nods and they exchange lunch boxes feeling satisfied. Some of their classmates laugh at their weird exchange while Horio sighs at both of their simplemindedness. They both eat happily with Meisha talking to her new classmates and Horio talking to Ryoma while he ate and maybe listened to some of Horio's nonsense.

* * *

The dismissal bell has started to ring, forcing the teacher to dismiss the class. Ryoma readied his tennis bag while Meisha piled up the books needed for homework later on her desk. Ryoma notices this and asks, "You don't have a bag?" "I do, it's just not with me right now" she tells him as she glances at Ryoma's unzipped tennis bag. "You going to practice now?" she asks him and he nods as he zips up his bag. "Oi Echizen! Hurry or else we'll be late!" Horio calls out from the door. "Bye" Ryoma says to Meisha as she waves at him happily while he walked towards the door. "Good luck in practice later!" Meisha calls out to him with her body turned to face him. He responds with a nod and leaves the classroom. Meisha smirks to herself as she softly says, "You're going to need it" then continues arranging her books.

* * *

The regulars are lined up in front of Tezuka, Oishi, Inui, and Coach Sumire Ryuuzaki in their own tennis court. The freshmen are picking up balls while the 2nd and 3rd years are training according to Inui's training menu for them in the other courts. "Listen up regulars! For today's practice, we have invited a guest over to help you for the upcoming tournament. He will be playing against each one of you to assess your skills so I suggest you play seriously!" coach Ryuuzaki announces as she watches the regulars look for this so called guest. "So this was the surprise Inui-senpai was talking about!" Momo says feeling relieved that he would not have to encounter one of Inui's juices again. "Where is this guest nya?" Eiji asks as he looks around curiously. Ryoma just yawns, feeling bored and wanting to play already. The coach looks at Tezuka then nods, as if signaling to him to do something. Tezuka nods back and walks out of the tennis court. Oishi watches Tezuka leaving then turns to face Inui. "Where is Tezuka going?" he asks Inui who responds with, "He is fetching our guest. It is his first time here so he does not know the way to the tennis courts." Oishi nods at that and tells his fellow regulars to warm up. "Ah, before warming up, all of you should remove all your weights" Inui cuts in as he points at his ankle weights. The regulars, including Oishi, do as told as they suddenly feel much lighter. "Now you can warm up while getting used to the new feeling" Inui says as he picks up the weights and stores them in a box. "Alright, 10 laps around the court!" coach commands as they respond with "Yes ma'am!" then start to jog outside. Inui takes out his notebook and looks at his watch as he writes down their changes in speed from before to now. "It seems their speed has increased by 25%" Inui states as he writes down the information on his notebook every time someone finishes a lap. Coach rubs her chin in thought then smirks. "Inui, why don't you offer your juice?" she suggests to him. Inui's glasses gleam as he takes out a pitcher of bubbly oozing green-orange liquid. "You know what happens when you're not the first to finish the laps!" coach says out loud, making the jogging regulars look towards the two and pale up (except Fuji) when they spot the pitcher Inui is holding. Suddenly they start to run for their dear lives (though Fuji didn't seem desperate yet) as Inui starts to correct his information while saying, "Hmm, their speed increased by 50%" Coach nods, happy to see a big improvement. "We're ready coach" Tezuka says from behind them as he enters the court with a short boy holding a big black tennis bag. Inui and coach turn towards them. The boy looks to be shorter than Ryoma by a few centimeters and he looks thin and frail but it could just look that way because he is wearing a bulky dark blue jacket and black jogging pants. His rubber shoes are black with a couple of pink highlights here and there. He is wearing a white and red cap with the visor low enough to cover his eyes from being seen by others. Coach smirks "Well well well, it has been a while since I've seen you play" she says. The boy just smirks and holds his visor down as he feels a wind coming his way. Inui seems to be grumbling while writing down something rapidly on his notebook. "Aaaaaaaah!" a loud cry is heard as the four turn towards where it came from and sees the regulars on their final lap desperately trying to be the first to finish (except Fuji of course). Tezuka was able to deduce that Inui used his juice as a motivation tool again and silently thanked the gods that he wasn't a part of it. Fortunately, all of them finished with a tie, making Inui keep his concoction for another day. "Alright, line up! Our guest is here!" coach announces, making the panting regulars go back inside the tennis court. They glance at the short boy who was standing next to Tezuka, and as if noticing that he was being watched, he holds down his visor and lowers his head. "I'd like to introduce our guest. His name is Kenji" Inui starts off, getting the attention of the regulars, "He will be helping us in assessing your tennis skills and a practice match with each of you will help you get ready for the tournament" he finishes as he glances at Kenji who just nods. "It's an ochibi number 2 nya!" Eiji says out loud energetically. "Eiji, that's rude!" Oishi scolds him but Eiji just continues to smile. "He's shorter than me" Ryoma smirks "Mada mada dane" he says looking smug. An anger vein appears on Kenji's head but he doesn't do or say anything as he tries to calm down. "Echizen! That's not nice either" Oishi scolds the freshman then looks at Kenji apologetically. "Sorry for that Kenji-kun" he apologizes on behalf of his teammates. Kenji just smiles slightly and nods, accepting the apology. "Hmm?" Ryoma wonders out loud as Kenji's smile seemed familiar to him as he stares at him. Kenji notices and holds down his visor. Ryoma's thoughts get interrupted when Inui blocks his view of Kenji as he steps forward with his notebook in hand. Ryoma lifts up his cap's visor to look up at Inui. "Kenji has been competing in various tournaments all over Japan for a few months" he says while browsing through his notebook, "And he has never lost so far" he continues then glances at Kenji who nods in confirmation while still holding down the visor. "Why does he keep holding down his cap? Is he ugly or something?" Momo asks the person beside him without checking to see who it was first. Unfortunately, Kaidou was the one standing right beside him at the time. "Oi, don't insult people you don't even know you moron" Kaidou says with a serious tone. An anger vein appears on Momo's head as he grabs Kaidou's collar, "I wasn't talking to you viper!" he yells out in anger as Kaidou grabs Momo's collar as well, "I was the only one beside you dipshit!" Kaidou yells out in anger then they start to growl at each other. "Enough!" Tezuka commands, making them stop fighting. Fuji continues to stare at their strange guest who notices and pulls his cap down a bit too much, revealing his hair color for a while. Fuji was able to see it as his eyes open a bit and his smile becomes wider. "So that's how it is" he softly says to himself but was heard by Eiji "What is it Fuji?" he asks with eyes full of curiosity. Fuji just shakes his head, "Was just talking to myself Eiji" he says, making Eiji laugh at him and saying that he was weird. Fuji doesn't say anything but just continues to smile at his friend. "Each one of you will play two games against Kenji; You will take turns in serving." Tezuka announces then looks at Inui and nods. "We'll start off with Eiji, then Kaidou, Oishi, Momo, Taka, Fuji, then lastly, Echizen" Inui reads his notebook out loud then glances at Kenji "You ready?" he asks Kenji who smiles and nods as he walks towards the far end of the court. "Let's start!" coach announces, clapping her hand once. Eiji goes to the other side of the court and waits for further instructions as Inui gets ready to write and the other regulars stay by the side to watch. "This is going to be fun" Fuji says as he looks towards Kenji who was stretching.

* * *

Well that's it, chapter two! Chapter three will be even longer so I might take a while again but I will make sure I can upload a chapter every week! Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know; Just type it up in the text box below and click "Post review" and voila! I will respond to them as soon as possible! :3


	4. Dame dame jan! Chapter three

I am so sorry for taking so long! I decided to take up one of my reviewer's advice and changed the format of my story. I'm not used to a different format so I took too long and decided to cut short the original plot of this chapter. Let me know if this format is easier for you guys! Enjoy! :3

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters as well as their tennis moves. I get my reference from wiki/Prince_of_Tennis_Wikia so if you think there is something wrong with the information here, let me know and I shall review it! Thank you and hope you enjoy!

* * *

Dame dame jan! Chapter Three

* * *

"Hoi hoi ochibi number 2! I won't hold back so you better be ready!" Eiji says excitedly while jumping around his side of the court, warming up (when facing the court vertically, Eiji is in the lower part while Kenji is in the upper).

Kenji doesn't say anything as he observes Eiji's movements. Tezuka moves a bit farther away from the others and stands beside Kenji's side of the court. Coach smirks at this as she follows him and stands beside him. Inui looks at them but doesn't follow; instead he observes Kenji. Ryoma discreetly glances at Tezuka and coach talking; he wonders what they are talking about that needed them to be away from earshot.

"Oi Echizen, you curious too?" Momo asks Ryoma who was right beside him. Ryoma looks away, "Not really" he says a bit too defensively. "Well I am!" Momo says as he looks towards Kenji who was adjusting his cap. "There's just something about that kid. I mean, why did captain and coach have to get him in order to assess what we can do? We have Inui-senpai for that" Momo says scratching his head.

"Good question Momo" Inui suddenly appears beside Momo, surprising both Momo and Ryoma for a while. "Don't do that Inui-senpai!" Momo begs Inui who just looks at him as if he doesn't know what Momo is talking about.

"Actually Inui, I want to know as well. Tezuka didn't tell me anything about this assessment" Oishi says looking at Inui.

Taka didn't say anything but he listened to their conversation, wanting to know as well. "Ffsshh" Kaidou hisses out softly as he too wanted to know, obviously not understanding why they needed to be assessed. Fuji listened to the conversation as well but he just continued to smile, secretly knowing something the others did not.

"This is a two-way assessment actually" Inui says as he watches both Kenji and Eiji warming up.

"Two-way?" Momo asks confused. "It means the kid is being assessed too you moron" Kaidou says feeling annoyed, making Momo angry but Oishi stops them, wanting to hear more about the matter.

Inui nods at Kaidou's answer, "It was actually Kenji who asked to be assessed in the first place" Inui tells them. "So since he is being assessed, might as well assess us too?" Momo asks trying to understand. Inui shakes his head "Kenji asked to be assessed so I can assess the team" Inui explains, making Momo and Taka a bit confused. "I see, so this Kenji is skilled enough to help you improve the training menus you've created for each one of us" Oishi says in a serious tone.

Inui nods while Momo and Taka finally nod in understanding. Ryoma smirks and stares at Kenji stretching "He must be pretty good then" he says feeling excited for his turn. "Ffsshh" Kaidou softly hisses as he too watches Kenji stretching. Fuji continues to smile and opens his eyes as he glances at Kenji and Eiji "They look ready to start" he says.

Inui scratches his head as if thinking of something but then shrugs it off and readies his notebook and pen.

"Eiji to serve!" coach Ryuuzaki announces.

"Hoooi!" Eiji responds back as Oishi approaches Eiji with a tennis ball. "Here you go Eiji" Oishi says with a smile as Eiji responds back with a grateful smile but then Oishi becomes serious, making Eiji confused. "Eiji, watch out for him. He's strong." Oishi says seriously. Eiji looks towards Kenji who was ready to receive then grins at Oishi and claps his shoulder. "Don't worry Oishi! I'll do my best!" Eiji says and gives him a thumb up. Oishi smiles and nods then jogs back to the sides to watch the game.

"You ready ochibi number 2?" Eiji asks with a smile.

Kenji just nods in response as he watches Eiji throw the ball in the air then serves it powerfully. Kenji returns it back with ease, giving most of the regulars the idea that Kenji is pretty good. Eiji returns it back powerfully and Kenji does the same. They rally for a while until Kenji sees an opening on Eiji's far left side of the court (Kenji's left) and smirks as he adds in more power to his return in order for the ball to travel faster. Eiji's eyes widen for a bit but then he smirks back at Kenji then performs a cartwheel going to his left and is able to reach the ball right after it bounced.

"Back to you nya!" Eiji exclaims out as he returns the ball to Kenji's far right side of the court (Eiji's right) because Kenji was still standing at the far left.

Kenji's smirk gets bigger as he performs a cartwheel as well and is able to return the ball. Eiji was too surprised to react in time, thus earning a point for Kenji.

"15-love" Coach announces with a sly smirk on her face as she softly says, "It has begun" Tezuka hears this and just simply glances at Eiji and the others' reactions.

"Oh! You're an acrobatic player too huh?" Eiji says out loud with a challenging look.

Kenji just simply adjusts his cap in response to make sure his eyes stays hidden while he continues to smirk. Then Eiji served the ball again, making them rally once again.

* * *

"An acrobatic player like Eiji-senpai huh?" Momo says in interest.

"Che… that's it?" Ryoma says feeling disappointed.

"You think so?" Fuji says smiling with his eyes slightly open as Ryoma and Momo look towards him.

"What do you mean Fuji?" Taka asks.

Fuji closes his eyes again then glances towards Oishi who stood a bit more in front of the rest (his back is facing the others so no one could see his facial expression).

"Maybe you should ask Oishi" he says.

Momo glances at Oishi then moves a bit forward to talk to him face to face.

"Hey Oishi-senpai, what does Fuji-senpai me–" he cuts himself off when he sees Oishi's unexpected reaction.

Oishi had his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes opened wide as he continues to watch the ongoing rally. Sweat rolls down the right side of his face as he continued to watch, not noticing Momo being there.

"Senpai?" Momo calls out again. "Huh?" Oishi says surprised then looks at Momo "Oh! Momo, what is it?" he says a bit uneasily.

"What's wrong Oishi?" Taka says in concern as he stands beside Oishi and places his hand on his shoulder.

Oishi glances at the ongoing rally and sees how both Eiji and Kenji are performing some stunts.

"Don't you guys think it's weird?" Oishi says uneasily as he faces the others behind him. "What do you mean senpai?" Momo asks completely clueless. Oishi glances at the match and says, "It's like seeing two Eijis" he says seriously.

The rest started comparing both Kenji and Eiji and slowly understood what Oishi meant.

"You know something, don't you Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma asks with a sly smirk. "I have no idea what you're talking about Echizen" Fuji says innocently with a smile. "Hmmm, whatever you say senpai" Ryoma says as he places his hands behind his head and watches the rally.

Fuji smiles at this, probably thinking that Ryoma was too sharp for his own good as he too focuses on the match.

"Wait, so you're saying this Kenji guy is copying Eiji-senpai's moves?" Momo asks still a bit confused. "I wouldn't say exactly copying…" Oishi says trying to find the right term for what he has noticed.

"I knew you would get it right away Oishi. You're the one that knows Eiji's movement the best" Inui says with his glasses gleaming. "Kenji IS actually copying Eiji's movement BUT there is just one difference" Inui says holding up his finger to emphasize the 'one difference' part. Inui glances at the rally, "Look closely" Inui says, making the rest focus on comparing the movements of Kenji and Eiji.

* * *

Eiji leaps to his left to return the ball and sees Kenji's own left side wide open so he directs the ball there. But when the ball bounced, Kenji was already there to return it using the same move.

* * *

Oishi's eyes widen as he realizes the difference. "Agility and power" Ryoma says as he focused on watching Kenji alone. Oishi nods "Kenji is more agile and places more power into his returns" he says as he watches Eiji barely being able to return Kenji's returns. "Hmm?" Inui suddenly starts to wonder and places his hand on his chin to think but then a loud voice interrupts his thoughts. "Woah woah, does this mean that not only can this Kenji guy copy his opponents' movements but he can be better at them?" Momo asks out loud in bewilderment. Inui shakes his head to get back to the present "We can't conclude that yet" he says as he adjusts his glasses.

"30-love!" coach Ryuuzaki announces, getting everyone's attention.

Eiji is panting a bit and sweat continues to roll down his face while Kenji didn't even look tired yet and hasn't sweat at all despite his big jacket and jogging pants.

"You're good nya" Eiji says to him with a determined look. Kenji raises his right arm and gives Eiji a thumb up as he smiles. This makes Eiji smile back "You're saying I'm good too?" he asks happily as Kenji nods cheerfully.

* * *

"Ah!" Ryoma suddenly exclaims out loud, surprising the other regulars. "You surprised me Echizen! What is it?" Momo asks as he looks down on his junior. Ryoma continues to stare at Kenji as he and Eiji start their rally again. He doesn't know if it was because Kenji noticed but Kenji held the visor of his cap a little bit lower to completely hide his eyes. Ryoma shakes his head then looks up at Momo "It's nothing" he says bluntly then watches the game again. Momo scratches his head in confusion but lets it go and turns his eyes back on the ongoing rally.

* * *

"Kikumaru beam!" Eiji announces as he shoots a powerful return, confident that Kenji wouldn't be able to return it.

Kenji smirks then picks up his pace and is able to return Eiji's return with his own move: the Kikumaru beam.

"40-love" coach announces with a wide smirk on her face as Tezuka continues to observe Kenji.

* * *

"Did-Did that shorty just do Eiji-senpai's move?" Momo asks bewildered.

"I-I can't believe it. It was exactly the same" Oishi says in bewilderment as well and looks towards Eiji who was looking the same.

Ryoma's smirk widens as he stares at Kenji in interest who was lowering his cap with a smirk as well. Inui continued to write on his notebook silently as if not surprised at all. Kaidou just stares at Kenji intensely, as if studying his moves so he could get an idea on how to beat him when he plays him next. Taka for some reason (Fuji) was able to get a hold of his racket and was screaming out random English words at Kenji who seemed to be ignoring it all. Fuji continues to smile as he enjoys watching his team mates' reactions.

* * *

Eiji becomes serious as he tosses the tennis ball in the air and serves it. Kenji is quick as he returns it back to Eiji. They start to rally with Kenji getting closer and closer to the net as Eiji gets farther and farther.

* * *

"He's pushing Eiji" Fuji says obviously amused as Oishi, Momo, Kaidou, and now the timid Taka (Oishi took away his racket) look on with widened eyes. Ryoma observes Kenji and sees something familiar about the way his left hand twitches. He smirks and says, "Mada mada dane" Inui glances at Ryoma for a while and smirks, then he goes back to writing on his notebook but then stops "Hmm? I think I'm forgetting something…" he murmurs to himself. Fuji hears it and smiles a knowing smile but doesn't say anything and continues to watch the game.

* * *

Eiji is sweating bullets as Kenji remained fresh and calm. "How are you able to not sweat in what you're wearing!" he exclaims, making Kenji smirk and adds more power to his hit. Eiji was not expecting such a heavy ball so he could not return it properly and it lobs instead. "Oh no!" Eiji says as he watches the ball go high up the net. Kenji jumps and performs another familiar move: Kikumaru bazooka. Eiji misses it and turns his head towards Kenji who was smirking with his head low and his dark green racket on his shoulder. "Game won by Kenji! Switch courts!" coach announces with a grin.

* * *

"Unbelievable!" Taka, for some reason (Fuji again), screams out with his racket in hand.

"It really feels like watching two Eijis playing tennis with each other" Fuji says with a smile and glances towards Oishi who has become serious. "Right Oishi?" he asks getting a nod as a response from Oishi.

"Kaidou" Inui calls out. "Yes senpai?" Kaidou replies. "You should use this opportunity to improve yourself. You will be able to learn a lot from your match with Kenji" he tells Kaidou who didn't seem to understand but nods anyway. "Hmm? No, that's not it. What was it?" Inui starts to murmur to himself again trying to remember what he forgot. Kaidou glances at him curiously but then focuses on the tennis court again.

* * *

Eiji and Kenji switch courts; Kenji bounces the ball on the court since it is his turn to serve; Eiji readies himself to receive. Kenji throws the ball in the air, smirks then hits it. It goes right past Eiji and bounces out of the court. "love-15!" coach announces. Eiji stood there dumbfounded as well as the other team members. "I-I didn't see it" Eiji says with his mouth open. Kenji readies another tennis ball and serves again. "love-30!" coach announces. Eiji just stares at Kenji with his wide eyes. Kenji takes out a new ball from his pocket and serves a bit slower this time, enabling Eiji to return it. They start rallying again until Eiji has started taking deeper breaths.

* * *

"Time's up for Eiji" Inui says as he writes down Eiji's new stamina record.

"Eiji..." Oishi whispers out in concern as he watches his doubles partner trying his best to gain a point.

* * *

Kenji smirks as he "attacks" Eiji again by going nearer to the net. "Oh no you don't!" Eiji says then glances at the back of Kenji where he sees that it's wide open and hits the ball to that direction with a smile on his face which then turns into a frown as his eyes widen and sees two Kenjis; One in the back and one by the net. The Kenji in the back returns the ball and it passes Eiji. It was silent in the tennis court for a while until coach snaps out of it and announces, "love-40!"

* * *

"Did-Did you guys just see…" Momo asks surprised beyond belief as the others just stared with their eyes open.

"Were there two Kenjis just a while ago?" Oishi asks Inui to confirm, obviously doubting his eyesight. Inui nods and starts to calculate the probabilities.

"Well, this has become very interesting, right Echizen?" Fuji asks the freshman whose eyes were bright and determined as they locked on to Kenji. Fuji smiles at this and is excited to play with Kenji as well.

"Ho-How did he do that?" Taka asks in disbelief as Kaidou continues to study Kenji.

* * *

"Well I did not expect that at all from the squirt" coach says with a smirk, clearly impressed. Tezuka glances towards Eiji "Eiji!" he calls him.

"Yes captain!" Eiji responses, getting out of his stupor and approaches both the captain and coach.

"Watch Kenji very carefully; he isn't here to try and beat you but he's here to help you learn." Coach explains then glances towards the others who looked curious at what they were talking about. "And it's not just you, but all of you regulars" she finishes and frowns at the confused Eiji. "What? Didn't Inui tell you guys?" she asks, making Eiji even more confused "Tell us what teacher?" Eiji asks, making coach sigh and Tezuka rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Time out!" coach announces and glances at Kenji who just nods and starts to bounce the tennis ball by using the side frame of his racket (like the one Ryoma did to get Fudoumine team's attention) while coach, Tezuka, and Eiji head towards the others.

* * *

"Inui, is there something you forgot to tell everyone about Kenji's purpose here?" coach asks Inui who starts to think. "He told us that it was for him to improve our training menus" Oishi says. "What! It was?" Eiji says in surprise since he wasn't in the group when they were talking about that. Oishi nods and explains to Eiji what they talked about earlier.

"Ah!" Inui suddenly exclaims finally remembering what he was supposed to say, surprising most of the regulars. "I forgot to tell you that you have to pay attention to every new move Kenji shows you while you're playing because they are something he assessed that you can do as well, given that you train for it" Inui says. This leaves the regulars speechless for a while.

* * *

"59, 60, 61, 62, 6—" "WHAT?!" Kenji's counting gets interrupted as the tennis ball he was bouncing rolls on the court. He looks towards the gathered group with a sweatdrop on his head as he watches most of the regulars throwing tennis balls at Inui and screaming things like, "Tell us that beforehand!" "I wasn't able to pay much attention nya!" "How could you forget something like that?!" "Hey this is fun!" Kenji shakes his head in disappointment but smiles fondly and catches Ryoma staring right at him from beside the ruckus. Kenji holds down his cap but doesn't look away as he stares at him as well by peeking a bit below the visor of the cap.

Ryoma smirks and discreetly says, "Mada mada dane" and looks away as coach ends the ruckus and asks Eiji to go back to the court.

Kenji was not able to hear what he said but he was able to read Ryoma's lips. "I'll wipe that comment right out of that arrogant mouth of yours" Kenji silently tells himself with a smirk and faces Eiji who seemed more energized now that he was able to rest a bit during the time out.

"Hey ochibi number 2! That cloning move you did, I can do that too?" Eiji asks with enthusiasm and sparkle in his eyes as a sweatdrop appears on Kenji's head as the words 'cloning move' echoed through his mind. But he shakes off his confusion and smirks at Eiji while nodding at him. Eiji's eyes just lit up even more as he punches his fist up to the sky in a victory pose. "Alright ochibi number 2! Show it to me again!" Eiji says as he gets into receiving position and locks his eyes on Kenji's form. Kenji smiles and serves the ball. Eiji returns it and anticipates the so called 'cloning move' but it doesn't happen. They rally for a while making Eiji exhausted once again since Kenji keeps hitting heavy returns. Kenji smirks at Eiji's pace slowing down and decides to hit a lob. Eiji brightens up and jumps to perform his Kikumaru bazooka but then sees two Kenjis. Eiji takes some time to analyze the two with his eyes as he smashes the ball at the direction of the Kenji in the back. Kenji returns the smash swiftly, making him earn the point that wins the game. "Game set! Kenji wins!" coach announces. Eiji stares at Kenji in a daze for a while but then recovers and grins. "Thank you ochibi number 2! I'll train hard so I can beat you with that cloning move!" he says and approaches Kenji who does the same. They shake hands but Kenji continues to look down so his eyes do not get exposed. Eiji is tempted to grab his cap but Tezuka grabs his attention by announcing that Kaidou is next.

* * *

"Hey Inui! Were you able to get enough data for me to clone myself?" Eiji asks excitedly. "First off, that was not cloning. Kenji was just fast enough to make it seem like there were two of him. And yes, I got enough data. I can be able to modify your training menu soon but we have to focus on your stamina for now before proceeding to agility." Inui explains to him with a satisfied smile.

* * *

Kenji goes back to his first side of the court and stretches while Kaidou walks towards the other side. "Fsshuu" he exhales out as he watches Kenji stretching. "Kaidou to serve!" coach announces with a grin.

* * *

Well that's it for chapter three! Hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next chapter! :D


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